Saturday, May 30, 2009

The Kaysville City Cemetery was honored this year to have American Legion Post 27 conduct a program, honoring all Veteran's. They also placed flags on every Veteran's gravesite in the Cemetery. We appreciate all the work that was done by Post 27.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Emily was born on May 3, 1846 in Colmworth, Bedforshire, England. Her father, William Stewart, was a humble shoemaker and early settler of Kaysville. Her mother, Mary Ann Marriott Stewart, was a lace maker. Her mother's ancestors came to England from the town of Marriott in Normandy with William the Conqueror and distinguished themselves in the Battle of Hastings.

In 1850, William, Mary Ann, their two daughters, Susannah and Emily, and William's sister, Elizabeth, sailed from Liverpool, England to America. After arriving in America, they settled for a time in St. Louis. In 1851, the family crossed the plains and settled in Kaysville around 1852.

When Emily was a little girl she could not have known that her school teacher would one day become her husband. John R. Barnes and Emily were married in 1869. John R. Barnes was a member of Utah's Constitutional Convention, the first Senator from his district, and founder of Barnes Bank. He had two other wives. John and Emily had nine children together. John died in 1919.

After her husband's death, Emily took it upon herself to provide a veritable banquet once each month for the directors of Barnes Banking Company in the evening after their meeting. So kind was Emily to Indians all her life that they called regularly at her door for food and clothing. Some of them were daughters and grandchildren of squaws she had known in earlier days.

Emily's versatility and capabilities were so outstanding that she won both admiration and respect. Not only could she, with her own hands and the simplest tools, pluck snagged wool from sagebrush, card it, spin it, dye it, weave it, and make it into a dress, but she could also grow flax, prepare it and make it into table linen. Not only could she tan hides, but she could also make them into shoes. She could gather straw, strip it, dye it and make it into hats. She could make soap and provide the kitchen with salt and soda prepared from the wild lands. She knew everything that grew in the desert, valley and mountain. She gathered chockcherries, service berries and haws for fruit, sunflower seeds for bread, rose leaves for tea, as well as mushrooms, edible roots, and succulent leaves for other foods. She knew every root and herb helpful as a remedy and also how to use and supply them in aid of the sick and afflicted. She could make equally well an apron, suit or wedding dress. She would put up fruit by the hundreds of bottles, make pickles, corn beef and cure hams. Nothing was wasted. Pulp from jelly was made into wine, barley into beer, and even dandelions on the wayside were gathered, their blossoms made into wine and their leaves put into salad. Wild cherries went into delicious pies. Butter, cheese, dried corn, dried apricots, all came within her habit of economy and supervision. Her home, from cellar to attic, was spotless with everything such as old letters and cherished momentos neatly packaged and stored in its place. She could make dozens of distinguished guests feel at home or chat understandingly with Indians at the back door. She was always giving to someone. She preferred to give more than to receive. She always had the urge to learn how to do things. As a cook, she was so famous that several of her recipes have become notable in Utah's cuisine. She learned cooking not from cookbooks but from observation and experiment. She gathered soda and salt from the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Her table, when set as a full course affair, was a masterpiece with every accountrement of silverware, hand-painted china, delicate glasses and fine linen. Her food, especially beef roasts, beef stews, dried corn, bottled raspberries and angel cake, could make the mouth water in memory. The President and Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church were as well-known at her table as her uncles. At one time, the entire Quorum of the Twelve met in solemn conclave in her living room. She could manage a public banquet as well as a private dinner. Never nervous or irritable in her movements, Emily was calm, methodical, confident, unhurried and soft-spoken. She admired ambition, efficiency, honesty, work, resourcefulness, tranquility and culture.

Emily died in 1932 and lies buried in the family plot in the Kaysville City Cemetery from which the mountains at the east, the fertile valley and great lake of brine to the west can readily be seen. Nothing more could her heart have desired.

When settlers first arrived in Kaysville in 1849 they made their homes and their living in west Kaysville. William Stewart, John Marriott and Robert W. Burton arrived in Kaysville together with their families in 1852 and eventually built cabins just south of Samuel Oliver Holmes (one of the first settlers) near what was a well traveled road along the last level of the lake, eventually called Bluff or Barren Road. Their homes became known as "Tradesman's Row."

Robert W. Burton was a blacksmith who mended farmers tools and made the first nails in Kaysville. William Stewart made and repaired shoes. John Marriott did many things, including the making of a sawpit in which he and Robert Burton sawed the first lumber for the settlers which provided doors, floors and windows. John Mariott is the ancestor of J. Willard Marriott, a wealthy businessman. The University of Utah Marriott Library and the BYU Marriott Center are named after him.

During the winter of 1851-52, before the cabins were built, William Stewart and his family lived in a wagon box. William kept busy in the wagon box making shoes. William's wife would get a tinpail full of hot coals and put in the wagon box to keep the family warm. In March 1852, John Marriott and Robert Burton worked together and built three homes all in a row. William Stewart's home was built with big logs, with a place for the door and a hole left for the window. There was no door or window to put in so they hung rags as best they could. It had a floor and there were open cracks between the logs along the walls. The chiminey was made of big squares of sod put up like bricks. For the roof, they put some large logs across the top, then some rushes they gathered by the creek, and then a big pile of dirt on top of that so that it would keep most of the rain out. A large log was put across the room for people to sit on.

In those days, people made due with what they had or what they could find. They gathered dry greasewood branches and "buffalo chips" for fuel. Many of the early settlers could not get logs to make a home so they built a dugout which was a square hole on the north side of a hill. Emily Stewart Barnes (daughter of William Stewart) tells many interesting stories in her life history about the early days in this community. In 1856, Emily and Susannah (her sister) went to John Weinel's flour mill. Susannah made Emily ask Mr. Weinel if he could give them a little flour. He looked at her and said, "My child don't you wish you was in heaven? I have nothing but a little bran. I will give you that." They were so pleased as they hurried home. The sack had no string to tie it and they spilled the bran, but gathered it up. When they got home with the bran, their mother made a cake, putting it in a frying pan to cook. When cooked, it became bran again as there was no flour left in it. They were so hungry they ate the dry bran.

This spring you will see dirt that has been stockpiled at Heritage Park removed. The City moved dirt from several different locations last year and stored it on the Heritage Park property so that it could be used for 2009 street projects. It has been estimated that this has saved the City hundreds of thousands of dollars because the City now does not need to purchase dirt for some of the street projects this year.

Some of the material will be moved to:

500 East Street for culvert upgrade and roadway aligning between Crestwood Road and Oak Lane.

Fairfield Road for culvert extension and roadway widening between 600 North and Boynton Road.

Some of the material will remain at Heritage Park to be used for grading and a parking lot.

As you look toward the mountain in the spring, the shape of a horse appears as the snow melts. The Snow Horse can be seen from both Kaysville and Layton. Early farmers in this area used this as an indication of how much water they would have during the summer. If the Snow Horse is still visible on June 1, pioneers knew there would be enough water for their crops. Farmers also used this as a guide to determine when it would be safe to plant crops. They would not plant until the Snow Horse appeared on the mountain.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Planning Commission recently granted approval for a new elementary school to be built at 1975 South Lake Ridge Drive (west of I-15, north of Shepard Lane, east of Sunset Drive and south of Burton Lane). The School District informs us that it will be ready for occupancy in 2010.